The present invention relates to a connector holder designed to hold the so-called pressure contacting connectors arranged in two rows facing one another. Each connector of this type comprises a plurality of contacts placed in an insulated housing to be ready to receive wires that will be snapped into a pressure contact with those contacts.
The connector holders of the type mentioned above are known in the art as described for instance in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,817.
This prior art holder comprises an elongate front wall or apron. An elongate and partitioning center wall disposed perpendicular to the front wall extends along the inner edge thereof. The partitioning center wall is secured to said inner edge to be integral therewith. End walls lying perpendicular to the center wall are located at the opposite ends thereof. The end walls have latch means for engagement with the connectors. A pair of spaces for receiving the connectors are surrounded by and defined with the front, center and side walls, such that a side of each space facing the front wall is opened, with another side confronting the center wall also opened.
Parallel partitions which each connector comprises are of such a design that certain compartments for holding therein the respective contacts are separated one from another by the partitions. The top and the rear side of each compartment are open for the wire to be snapped in. A pair of retainers (hereinafter referred to as "strain relieves") are protrusions formed integral with the parallel partitions and on both the sides of each compartment, in order to retain each wire placed therein. These members listed above constitute an insulated housing for each connector. The open tops of the compartments will be closed with the center wall referred to above, when the connectors are set on the holder.
It is however to be noted here that only the strain relieves formed as the parts of the insulated housing do play a role to hold the wires in place, after the latter are connected to the connectors. It is difficult for such strain relieves to withstand well a strong stress that will be produced when the wires are bent, rotated, swung, pulled or wrenched. Those wires held in the connectors of the described type are usually caused to swing when the wiring work is done. If the insulated housing is undesirably pressed to the center wall due to the stress just mentioned above, then the strain relieves will more possibly fail to retain the wires in position.